I am officially in pizza delivery hell...I don't know what I did wrong in my last life.

Last week I posted my miserable incident with Mammas Pizza...where they took 1.5 hours and 3 phone calls to deliver a cold, soggy pizza 6 blocks and they wouldn't even comp it. I had chosen Mamma's after reading some posts and decided to give them a try. Needless to say "never again." I was finally saved that night by calling my old standard, New York Pizza, who delivered in under 40 minutes. Previously I hadn't order in pizza for over a year.

Tonight, I needed to order before 5PM when my old faithful, New York Pizza, starts delivering, so I tried Pizza Nova at 4:34. The agent was very pleased to tell me the extensive delivery hours of Pizza Nova in addition to taking my order.

I had forgotten my credit card in the car and had to guess at my expiry date, which prompted an expected follow-up call from customer service...5 minutes later. I called back, spoke to a very nice man and completed the order. An hour later, no pizza. I begin to fear a repeat of the previous week's miserable experience.

I called back and they informed me that there was an outstanding message for me to call customer service (yes, the one I had already responded to close to an hour earlier). They had no record of my second call, whatsoever. In my nicest voice (really), I explained that I had indeed returned the call only 5 minutes after the first call, described the lead up to the second call, the content of the second call and that I had a witness, and that they had promised my pizza in 40 minutes.

She kept her cool, accepted no responsibility, but, unlike Mamma's, offered the pizza at no charge. Hungry and getting grumpy, I accepted my fate and agreed and they said it would be there ASAP from the closest store.

40 MINUTES later, still no pizza. I called back and they assured me it was on route. My friend and I had agreed that if they made it in 40 minutes, we would tip the driver, after all it wasn't his fault. It was only 3 minutes after our timeline when he arrived and I tipped him before I realized he'd squished the box and the pizza was stuck to the top. Yes, most of it was attached to the lid. Maybe that is why he was walking away and surprised that I was offering a tip. Digging in, my starving friend and I discovered that, even though we'd ordered extra sauce, they had forgotten the sauce altogether.

Nice finish don't you think? We choke down the dry, but passable pizza, our only solace was that it was free and we'd already finished the bottle of wine we'd intended to drink along with the pizza.

I did call back the customer service manager I'd spoken to earlier and let her know that the condition of the pizza. She confirmed that'd we'd ordered extra sauce and offered to send another pizza...a definite plus over Mammas. But I couldn't be bothered. We choked down our dry pizza and opened another bottle of wine. What the heck.

The moral. Once you are in pizza delivery hell, it is time to look for a good chinese delivery service until you work off the bad karma.That's it for me. I am currently looking for a good pizza ashram to work off my sins. (suggestions welcome) I only hope they have some nice red wine to go with.

Yes, definitely sounds like a sign from the gods that you need to start making your own pizza! It's not that hard and worth it for the taste and cost savings. All the best if you try the delivery route again in the future though.

Though it is great to get delivery, I would opt for pick up (more control) and order from Danforth Pizza House. I think it is the best pizza in the area, if not the city. Very old school toppings, nothing else available really, except pop (brio too). Very good.

I had my first pizza from them last week. It was really good and we will be going back. In fact it is the best pizza I've had in the east end (maybe all of T.O.), with the exception of the Tukrish-style items at Pizza Pide.

All that said, expect a wait on a Friday night. It is a mom and pop place and only pop is doing any cooking. We waited over 45 minutes for a plain cheese pizza. It WAS worth the wait though. My only other complaint would be that he was consistently (I waited in the store and could easily see into the oven) cooking pizzas until the bottom crust just started to blacken. That is well into too toasted for my liking. There were parts of the crust I found burnt. I am going to ask him if he can pull mine out a little early next time.

Well, I ordered from there on Thursday and hated it! The crust was hardly crisp at all. The crust was also quite thick -- despite ordering regular (i.e. not thick) crust. Moreover, the cheese was barely browned at all. The whole thing seemed underdone and I'm a person who usually complains about over-cooked crusts!

Also, there was way, way, way too much basil. I did order the Margherita which should have basil -- but not like this. It was all chopped up in the sauce and was certainly overpowering.

Let's assume that I simply didn't order the right thing. I've read enough posts praising this place that they must be doing something right. What should I order? Do I need to ask for the thin crust? Is it essential to specify that I want a crisp crust (i.e. can you cook it longer?)?

What is it about this place you (many others) like? Oh and if it is the ingredients, you can skip it! I like plain pizzas or maybe some green olive if i'm fealing risky.

When we ordered our pizzas last night, I didn't mention anything about the crusts and they came thin style, cooked just right. My kids liked their plain pizza (well, plain as in xtra cheese and bacon). Back when we used to order from them in the late '90s, we tried their pasta dishes but weren't horribly impressed. However, since they're closer to me again, I think I'll wander over for lunch someday and try one of their sandwiches.

We always ask for thin crust (I think the first time we didn't and the crust was pretty think) but aside from the outside edge, I wouldn't say that the crust is crisp; I can't imagine how you would get a crisp crust on a pizza that's been steaming away in a cardboard box for 10-15 minutes, but I'm not a crispy crust person so that's never bothered me. I am into the risky ingredients (porcini! leeks! gorgonzola!!) but I also think that they put all the crazy ingredients together in a very satisfying way--Bona Pizza Night is always a big event in our house...but different strokes and all that. If everyone loved Bona as much as I do, they'd be too busy and I'd never get my pizza...

What area do you live in d_and_d? Sounds like you live in a Bermuda Triangle of incompetent pizza houses!! We order from Pizza Nova all the time (hubby's choice for pizza delivery) and we've not had a problem like you did. Maybe the order centre was still mucked up after not having phone service for a few days...

That being said, I think I'll suggest Danforth House to hubby next time it's pizza night.

But a good portion of the aggravation would not have occured had you brought in your credit card, yes? It is not really mama's pizza fault that the credit card company didn't follow up with them...or that you guessed at your expiry date. I'm surprised they comped it for you.

Thanks for all the sympathetic responses. I'm still looking for the pizza ashram where I can work on my karma.

To nummanumma, the agent and I knew there might be a problem with guessing the exp date, so I did run for the card and call back with the right expiry date within 5 minutes. It was the second call where the customer service agent must have messed up and not completed the order. After my previous experience with Mamma's, I was quite happy they comped the first one and absolutely shocked when they offered a second pizza at no charge when I called about the missing sauce. Even though I was in pizza hell, the attention to customer service was so good that I will definitely try Pizza Nova again, but I will try to work off my bad karma first....or move out of the Bermuda Triangle.

I do make my own pizza, in response to other helpful suggestions, but sometimes I just don't want the mess and the heat in the kitchen. Alas, I must return to the old ways and go for homemade, or even a good quality frozen. But, even with a pizza stone, there is nothing quite like the crust from a good pizzeria. I guess for that, I am better to go for pick up. I'll have to try Danforth Pizza next.